KeyBank dispute resolved!

KeyBank has resolved this dispute in my favour after a discussion
with Mastercard. I really appreciate their courtesy and
professionalism in the matter. I am happy that in the end my request
was listened to in a human manner and treated courteously which I
think is something all banks should give to their customers. In
contrast to a
recent case where Chase caused the arrest of a man wrongly and
apologised for it, KeyBank treated my dispute with respect and
ultimately resolved it properly. My original details are below for
posterity's sake but it should be noted that in the end KeyBank did
the right thing.

Summary

I am complaining about KeyBank's handling of a fraudulent
transaction that appeared on their MasterCard debit card and withdrew
a ridiculously high amount [2]
from my account. I disputed this transaction and KeyBank denied my
dispute even though at no time did I authorise such a charge on my
card, nor did I make any purchases remotely nearing that amount. All
the supporting information produced by KeyBank (including a signature
that is not mine) is information that could've been obtained from my
card. I feel KeyBank has taken my money that I deposited in good
faith and is not following established MasterCard policies in giving
my money back. I have communicated with MasterCard, US PIRG, the FTC,
and now the Comptroller of the Currency about this issue. I am not
only just requesting that my debit card transaction be treated as
fraudulent and have my money returned, but also pushing for better
safeguards established for debit card transactions. KeyBank and
MasterCard don't realise what they have done. It is such a shame for
me to write this since I have great interactions with my local KeyBank
branch staff, but the bureaucracy is heartless, siding with their
dubious Chinese merchants instead of its (thus far) loyal clients [3].

Based on my experience, I highly recommend customers AVOID
KeyBank for their banking needs and definitely avoid the KeyBank
MasterCard debit card. We're being made fools of for trusting our
money with this unfair bank.

More details

I filed a dispute with KeyBank for a ridiculously high charge from a merchant in Beijing, China in the Sanlitun
District which I initially didn't recognise. I thought it was either
an error or a hotel charge that I forgot about (since I was on a long
work related trip). KeyBank then produced documentation that was
simply a credit card slip/receipt (with a signature that is not mine)
showing a charge for the above amount around the time I was at a small
bar in the Sanlitun District. (I went to this particular area since I
was tired and jet lagged, it's the only place I knew to goto to get
some street food, and so I could reminisce about my previous
travelling with my students and collaborators in Beijing, who now use
Shenzen as their main base of operations.) Here I had two soft
nonalcoholic drinks (oddly they didn't have either Coca Cola OR Pepsi
so it was something like an orange juice) and a small peanut
snack. When I asked for the bill I was told it was 200 yuan/RMB. I
attempted to pay with my MasterCard which was taken from me and then
returned about 30 minutes later (seriously, though I didn't really
think too much about it at first [4]) and told
that it didn't work. I then paid 30 US dollars cash with the paper
money that I had and thought nothing of it.

The MasterCard I gave resulted in me being fraudulently charged a
ridiculously higher amount on my card for two drinks and a snack even
though I ultimately paid in cash. At no time did I agree or authorise
this charge on my MasterCard. All the information provided by KeyBank
is something that is easily gotten from someone who has physical
access to my card (i.e., name and signature). There was no pin
used. There is no identification information. I have complained to
KeyBank that this transaction is fraudulent yet KeyBank has sided with
the merchant without any additional proof. For example, the merchant
has not provided an itemised listing that would explain my total
charge which I find extremely suspicious since there is no
justification whatsoever for this charge because I don't drink alcohol
and I was alone! It is not in my character at all to make such a large
charge these days at a bar-like place. Instead KeyBank is asking ME
to produce a cash receipt with their identifying information which I
don't have since it was a small bar in a cluster of several bars (if
people have been around the Sanlitun area you know what I mean). There
is absolutely nothing in my spending behaviour during that trip that
would jibe with this charge which stands out like a huge peak (or
perhaps I should say trough, since I lost the money). Most of the time
I paid cash and this was one of the rare times I tried to use my card
since I had spent my RMB and I thought I was lucky I had US
dollars. :/

The MasterCard Zero Liability policy states that any unauthorised
transaction has zero liability. There are further rules about debit
card liabilities for fraud which range from $50 to $500. (I did notify
KeyBank immediately of noticing the fraud and within two days of the
transaction.)

I feel that KeyBank has now taken my funds that I have deposited
with them in good faith and given it fraudulently to a merchant
without proper investigation and due process. If anyone is reading
this that can address KeyBank and MasterCard's dubious practices, any
help you can provide me in this matter would be
appreciated. Conversely if you need assistance with changing the laws
so that debit cards are protected by something like the Fair Credit
Billing Act or even better [5], please contact me
as I am devoting my energy and resources to this cause.

Alternate scenarios

As a scientist I wake up every day exciting about discovering ways
I can falsify my own favourite hypotheses.

As a veteran of the
Internet and the Web (this is one of the
very first web pages and sites) I know there're always devil's
advocates to anything one might say. People may ask why should the
bank trust me instead of the merchant? This is really a "he said/she
said" kind of argument in my view. I claim the signature is not mine
and I didn't authorise the charge and the bank claims there is enough
of a match of the signature on the receipt with my signatures from
some past cheques and that's that. As I point out below [4], signature forgery tools are as good as signature
identification tools, which seems reasonable. A merchant normally
doesn't collect anything other than the information on the credit card
(signature, name as it appears on the card, card number). But for
high value purchases, merchants might check for an identification card
and in many countries across the world, a purchase like this would've
resulted in my passport being copied. The merchant hasn't produced
anything at all like this. Just the small credit card receipt without
the itemised listing of charges, etc. I think it's suspicious. The
bank thinks it's enough.

There has been one occasion in my life where I did indeed
completely forget a transaction I had made in a foreign country. I
just inquired about it and I got back documentation that included the
passport and visa pages, my driver's license, and of course an
itemised list detailing the transaction. Here there's no such
thing. Just the receipt.

In the bank's scenario then, I must some how have made the
purchase without me realising it. Perhaps I was hynotised or drugged!
But then why not produce more information? Why not indeed get a copy
of my passport (which I was carrying) or another identification card?
Why stop at that amount I was charged [6]?

What about motive? I don't have any. The merchant clearly could
see a friendly and weary foreigner who perhaps looked to him as "easy
pickings". I'd bet this happens at that place fairly often. I asked
some of my Chinese friends here who are familiar with that area and
they were not surprised, and they said I might've even sparked it off
by being a "cheap" spender (i.e., not drinking alcohol and planning to
leave sooner than they'd like). They also said I have little recourse
there locally since the authorities are corrupt and the cops are on
the take and will even go against you.

All this isn't about the money anymore. The money itself isn't
important to me: it's the principle.

I understand credit cards are a better deal with
the Fair Credit Billing Act and the fact that your money doesn't get
taken out immediately, but I am averse to credit. There's no logical
reason debit cards should be less equally protected and KeyBank
MasterCard should step up to the place and guarantee the same
protection for its debit cards that it would for its credit cards.

I was advised to not provide the dollar amount
and other specific information for my complaints to random third
parties though it is there inside the web page if you look
cleverly. If there is enough interest I can think about putting up
the receipt and all other dodcumentation the bank has sent me with
key information blacked out. There's also more detail I should add
to this page about the bar itself which I have a very fuzzy
recollection of since it's just one more small bar in set of about
50 or so bars all clustered together. It's just a LONG row of
bars. And there are touts who try to grab you as you walk past each
bar and try to get you in, and I was humouring one of them when
another tout came up to me and told me to go "his" bar. His English
was good so I followed him and look what happened.

I have to say that at all points I have received nothing other
than exemplery customer service from KeyBank. The case managers and
their supervisors are all very supportive but extremely apologetic
saying there's nothing they can do about it.

According to a person I know who does handwriting analysis
professionally, forging signatures using
software has apparently gotten really sophisticated when you have a
handwriting/signature sample since it incorporates a huge amount of
data points that apparently even the best human forgers don't. There
are software programs available that can analyse handwriting samples
and produce a signature that is a random variation of the handwriting
and allegedly it is surprisingly turns out to match up with people's
scribbles. And you know, some people are just excellent copiers
anyway. BTW, I'm not saying they took the card so long to forge
a signature on the spot, since they could've run the card through
and made a copy and made a forged signature in their own due course,
or found samples of my handwriting nearby. I did slightly use my
card in that same area for about two days where I actually signed
for purchases and there may have been connections. This sounds like
a stretch but who knows. Credit card fraud in Beijing is rampant
(google).

I think the debit card system of taking your money
when you use it is a good thing from a financial management
perspective (for me at least, and from what I read on the Web, for
quite a few others). When the banks credit your money during a dispute
(which usually happens quickly) then they shouldn't automatically be
able to take that money back but rather it should be like the credit
cards, where the customer can refuse to pay and then the credit
cards have to try to get their money back by other means instead of
raiding the customer's bank account. There's some sort of a conflict
of interest issue here with a debit card issuer making the decisions
about debit card disputes and charges and most importantly, having
the power to arbitrarily enforce that decision (i.e., take the money
back).

I believe I can answer this because when I first
spoke to the bank representative, the person said there were
actually two charges for about the same amount (but not exactly the
same) and the first turned out to be a preauthorisation. I'm not able
to get more information on this, but I'm going to bet that the
preauthorisation time coincides with the time I gave my card, and the
actual charge time is out later, after they gave my card back and said
it wouldn't work. So they checked to see how much they could charge
me, a reasonable number where they didn't overdo or underdo it.